Rust Rating Required - 0 - 10

Bailiejo

I gave myself a previous rust rating of .7 out of 10 and I'm hoping to make it to 2 with these photos. I travelled to the ship yards today in -10 degrees C looking for the right specimen to manipulate.... (fingers crossed)
Here goes:
Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

black mamba

#1 and #2 have potential. #3 could work if you cropped from the left to eliminate the hole and then flipped the image to a landscape ratio. Overall, I'd give these shots a 4 at best. They're very muted, have no " pop " to them. You need to give them some significant brightening, and then get REAL AGGRESSIVE with saturation, contrast, etc., etc. Do whatever it takes to give these shots some " life " and let them speak to you. Obviously, I'm addressing this group of shots from the perspective of one who believes in taking rust images to the extreme. Perhaps that approach doesn't suit you. It's certainly not for every taste.

Tom

Juano

Black Mamba is right, they are good but lack "pop" as he says. I had a go with the one I like the most, I hope you don't mind.

Bailiejo

Thanks guys... but where and how do I get "pop"? Never mind, I'll figure it out. Thanks to both of you for your comments. I don't mind anyone taking these photos and enhancing them and posting to this thread to show me what I should be looking for as an end result. That goes for any future pics as well. I'm glad to be at a level 4.... hey, that's worth celebrating. Thanks Juano for your version. Ya know, I actually liked # 3 the best because it looked like a person..... but I see now, that's now what 'Rusties' are all about. Crop it, crop it, crop it and make it pop!!

Juano

Pop =
(For me at least)

1. Increase the black tones for depth
2. Increase brightness and fill light as needed
3. Bump overall saturation
4. Play with individual channel saturation ad hues

On this last step you'll find you can go in very different directions, depending on your individual preference.

Bailiejo

Guys. is this a bit better for pop?.....

black mamba

Very much better. This version definitely lets the rust start to tell its hidden stories, as did Juano's. As a stand-alone image, I would elevate this one to a good solid 7. Not bad at all.....considering that 10's are very rare indeed.

Tom

Juano

Now you're popping clap

The rest is keep looking, that ship yard seems like a rust mine! Composition will take you to 10's

DonRicklin

Looks like the Rust Junkie community is growing in leaps and bounds!

Excellent progression here!

Personally, I find in Lightroom (or ACR) with raws or dngs, all one needs to do for starters is 100% Clarity, some Saturation and Contrast boost! and then tweak from there!

Don

torags

POPIN'

A fastread, that Bailiejo...

Bailiejo

Wow! and Yahoo! Thanks so much for the encouragement guys. Can't wait for my next find - would not have received Level 7 without the guidance from all of you. Of course, the pressure is on to meet and beat the last rating.

theprincereturns

The edited ones look great. Most photos need some help :-) I create a pre-set in lightroom whenever I find a particular combination of settings (contrast, saturation, exposure, noise reduction, sharpening, color chanels, etc. . ) that work and use them liberally on new photos.